Bringing the discussion of Avatar here. I'm not a sci fi movie person, and while the 3D visuals were nice, it was just a bit much of glowing footprints, drooling animals, and floating jellyfish flowers. It could have been about an hour shorter, imho.

But my main issue is that Cameron felt the need to hit moviegoers over the head again, and again, and again. "Unobtainium?" Seriously?

3 stars out of five, at best, for Dances with brightly colored winged things.

I saw Nine this afternoon. My spouse said sh had liked Chicago much more, but I thought this movie was well done and well played. Hell, any movie with Sophia Loren and Penelope Cruz in the cast ought to be superb.

I finally got to Up in the Air and I loved it. It has all the trappings of a slick modern comedy but in fact it's a pretty serious movie. Traditional comedy would have ended with Ryan and Alex abandoning their mobile way of life in favor of a committed stability. But when that turned out to be not possible, things were left dangling. Up in the air. Good movie.

I did see Nine last week. I had seen the original Broadway production (starring Raul Julia) and the excellent 2003 revival (starring Antonio Banderas, who I persist in thinking would have been the ideal choice for the movie). I love Maury Yeston's music for this (though his lyrics are not on the same level), and am regretful but unsurprised that about half the score was dropped.

I'm even more regretful that Rob Marshall adopted exactly the same stylistic device for the songs ("they're the protagonist's fantasies") that he had in Chicago. It fit the earlier film very well, this one not so much. But some of the performances were excellent. Best, to my surprise (because she's a performer for whom I have no awareness, and her song is the only one I don't like), was Fergie as the Saraghina. Marion Cotillard was also lovely and touching as Luisa. Judi Dench is such a pro she puts her song over by sheer talent, but the reconception of her character as a British costume designer rather than a French producer pretty much removed any justification for the "Folies Bergere" song (and especially for it being done with a French accent). I didn't see any point to inventing a role just so Kate Hudson could prance around for 5 minutes and then vanish.

So... a very mixed experience, disappointing to one who knows the musical, but not without its definite pleasures.

Hmm. I must be the only person in the world who didn't like Chicago, so I guess I'll skip Nine.

Up in the Air...Alex definitely was sending out hints she'd be open to a committed relationship. She practically invited one. Then at the end she left a voice message for Ryan saying that she was willing to continue their current arrangement if he wished, leaving it up to him. All those hints must have been on another level of the game she was playing, and Ryan just missed the elevator. The latest TV ads are promoting the movie as a romantic comedy. But while there were a lot of really funny things in the movie, I'm wondering if it's a comedy at all.

I had planned to catch Young Victoria this weekend but it is only showing at one theater, our old unimproved art house, where the seats are uncomfortable, the popcorn bad and the walls so thin you can hear the sound from the next theater...maybe I'll wait for the DVD.

Originally posted by Lorna:Up in the Air...But while there were a lot of really funny things in the movie, I'm wondering if it's a comedy at all.

Oh, yes, it's a comedy all right.

**********SPOILER -- Jon, don't read this******

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Comedy has a certain pattern, and Up in the Air follows it. First a status quo is illustrated -- a way of living, a point of view shared by the principal characters. Ryan loves his life as a perpetual traveler, never stopping long enough to put down roots. Next, a disrupter is brought into the scene, someone who introduces an unwanted change. In this case it's Natalie, whose modernized method of firing employees would put an end to the status quo that Ryan so openly enjoys. Then come numerous ups and downs that can come to a stop in one of two ways. The disrupter can be absorbed into the body of the status quo, requiring a big change in the disrupter. That does not happen. The other way is to exile the disrupter so everyone else can return to the status quo. That does happen. Natalie gets fed up and quits. Our last view of her is her back as she walks away from the camera, dragging one more suitcase through one more airport.

This is where the movie throws us a curve. Ryan gets his status quo back, but he's not sure he wants it any more. And that's Alex's doing, not Natalie's. The old way of life just doesn't seem as satisfying as it once did. So it's a tarnished victory at best, the same way his relationship with Alex is now tarnished. No solid closure here, which you expect in traditional comedy. The possibility for closure exists, but it's left you know where.

Two sidebars. First, the blubbering bride in the wedding that almost didn't happen -- that was Melanie Lynskey, who played Pauline in Heavenly Creatures (her first acting job).

Next, the movie begins and ends with interviews with employees who'd been sacked. The interviews at the beginning are filled with anger, shock, dismay. But a note of cautious hope can be heard in the final interviews; the ex-employees are beginning to heal -- a proper note for a comedy to end on. Did you know those people are not actors? They're real former employees who got the boot in the same way pictured in the movie. Remarkable.